S’pore Sprint Queen Shanti Pereira Engaged to Former National Sprinter Tan Zong Yang

Olympic rings aren’t the only rings in Shanti Pereira’s sights this year.

On 12 June 2024, the Singapore sprinter announced her engagement to former national sprinter Tan Zong Yang.

The Couple Have Been Together for 3 Years

Pereira shared dreamy photos of the proposal on Instagram, with the caption, “9/6/2024, in Stockholm 🤍💍🥂 cheers to your 30th, 3 years together, and to the rest of our lives!!!!!!!!”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Shanti Pereira (@v_shantipereira)

The pair’s engagement was set with the beautiful backdrop of Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, which is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list and the private residence of the Swedish royal family.

Congratulatory messages poured in for the couple, including ones from other athletes like Soh Rui Yong, and local celebrities like Radio DJ Jean Danker.

The couple seemed to have a little crew who had helped photograph and film the proposal.

This included fellow athlete Timothee Yap, who posted a video of Pereira jumping for joy when Tan proposed.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 叶劲维 Timothee Yap OLY (@timotheeyjw)

The pair got into a relationship back in 2021, after four years of friendship.

If that isn’t the cutest thing.

Pereira in Europe for the Paris 2024 Olympics

Singapore’s sprint queen is currently in Europe in preparation for the Paris Olympics, which starts on 26 July 2024.

This will be her second Olympics, with her first being the 2021 Tokyo Olympics where she made her Olympic debut.

There, she placed 39th out of 41 overall in the 200m.

More recently, she won two gold medals in the Women’s 100m and 200m at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Her fiancee, who has retired as an athlete, has also represented our country well, winning Singapore’s first medal in the 400m event in 47 years at the 2021 Hanoi SEA Games, bagging the bronze medal.

As they say, a couple that sprints together stays together.

Her Journey has Not Been Easy

For those who might not know, Pereira is Singapore’s first Asian Games athletics champion since 1974.

Her success comes even after the star sprinter faced many setbacks, including injuries which resulted in her under-par performance at the 2018 Asian Games.

She also lost two scholarships (a sports high-performance scholarship and a university scholarship) in one week.

Speaking to Olympics.com, Pereira said that it was the people around her that helped her get through some of her lowest times.

Undeterred, the only way from there was up for the sprinter.

In 2023, she lowered national records in both the 100m and 200m multiple times and won two medals at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

She was recently named Sportswoman of the Year at the Singapore Sports Awards on 3 June 2024 – and rightfully so!

Clocking yet another national record time of 22.57 sec for the 200m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Pereira met the qualifying time and secured her spot at the Paris Games.

If you’d like to find out more about Singapore’s golden girl, here are 10 facts about Shanti Pereira.

She has been on a roll and there’s no stopping her now – next stop, Paris.